JP2005039552A - Narrow band radio communication system, mobile communications terminal and base station - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the communication quality by devising about the confliction between mobile communication terminals. <P>SOLUTION: An ASP server having received condition parameters from a terminal MS identifies a base station BS which the terminal MS is expected to arrive at and transmits directivity control data corresponding to the base station BS to the terminal MS. The terminal MS corrects the directivity control data using stereoscopic map data acquired from a navigator, and executes the directivity control to avoid influences of buildings, etc. existing between the base station BS and the terminal MS in a connection area this side of a hot spot. When the terminal MS decides that it enters the connection area based on present position data obtained from the navigator, it commences the directivity control of a terminal antenna using the directivity control data, and when it establishes a communication with the base station BS, the base station BS and the terminal MS go into a large-capacity data communication connection state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a base station for narrow area radio that forms a limited communication area by narrowing a radiation range of a carrier wave when transmitting a radio signal to a mobile communication terminal, and a mobile communication terminal that has entered the communication area of the base station The present invention relates to a narrow-area wireless communication system and the like that perform wireless communication with each other.

  In recent years, it is presumed that outdoor spot communication by wireless LAN is deployed alongside a mobile phone network. This is the technical standard of 802.11a, which is an international standard for wireless LAN that enables communication at a maximum of 54 Mbps using a frequency of 5 GHz band, formulated by the IEEE (American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802 Committee. It is based. The connection method is a CSMA / CA (Carrier Sence Maluti Access / Collision Avoidance) method, which is a method of competing if there is an empty slot while carrying out carrier sense.

  In general, a wireless LAN communication area is a spot-line communication area having a radius of, for example, several tens of meters in a spot area, and a user enters the area and competes for communication connection. It is predicted that this method will be adopted in automobiles. When a car enters an outdoor service area (for example, a parking place of a drive-through restaurant), a vehicle equipped with a wireless LAN enters the connection procedure, and information necessary for the vehicle, such as a product list of food and drink, and other information (For example, maps, music, video, etc.) can be obtained, or car status information can be transmitted.

However, when competing with the equipment of other vehicles, there is a possibility that connection cannot be established in that area, or communication quality deteriorates and a large capacity communication path cannot be secured.
In addition, when the terminal station has an antenna directivity control (beam forming) function (see, for example, Patent Document 1), or when the access point base station has an antenna beam forming function. (For example, refer to Patent Document 2). In the former case, high-quality and large-capacity communication can be expected. In the latter case, the communication quality of the wireless line can be improved by suppressing interference between the wireless LAN terminals.
JP 2000-22618 A JP-A-8-139661

  However, no countermeasures are taken against contention between terminals. This leads to an improvement in communication connection quality within a wireless LAN communication area (also referred to as a hot spot), but a desire to connect before anyone and win the competition just before the hot spot area is approached. That is, although the problem of mutual interference can be solved, no countermeasure is taken against contention between terminals. For this reason, there is a possibility that connection with the base station cannot be established in the communication area due to competition, or the communication quality may be deteriorated. Therefore, there is room for improvement in securing a large-capacity communication path and improving communication quality.

  In view of the above points, the present invention aims to improve communication quality by devising the competition between mobile communication terminals.

  (1) A narrow-area wireless communication system according to claim 1 has a base station antenna and forms a limited communication area by narrowing a radiation range of a carrier wave when transmitting a radio signal to a mobile communication terminal. Wireless communication is performed between a wireless base station and a mobile communication terminal having a terminal antenna and entering the communication area of the base station. Further, at least mobile communication is performed via a mobile wide area communication network. An external device capable of communicating with the terminal is provided. The mobile communication terminal is configured so that the directivity of the terminal antenna can be controlled first, and the state parameters including the current position and the movement direction of the mobile communication terminal are transmitted to the external device via the mobile wide area communication network. It has state parameter transmission means for transmission. In addition, for each base station, the external device specifies the position of the terminal antenna so that the position in the connection area, which is a predetermined range larger than the communication area with respect to the base station, and the signal strength of the carrier wave from the base station at that position is high. Common data storage means for storing directivity control data in association with direction information indicating the direction in which the direction should be directed, based on the state parameters transmitted from the mobile communication terminal via the wide area network for mobile Control data transmission in which the communication terminal extracts the directivity control data corresponding to the base station to be reached from the common data storage means and transmits the state parameter to the mobile communication terminal that has transmitted the state parameter via the mobile wide area communication network Have means. Further, the mobile communication terminal is specified by the state specifying means based on the control data stored in the terminal-side control data storage means for storing the directivity control data transmitted from the external device, and the control data stored in the terminal-side control data storage means. Terminal-directional control means for controlling the directivity of the terminal antenna according to the current position of the mobile communication terminal.

  For this reason, in the mobile communication terminal, the state parameter transmission means transmits the state parameter including the current position and the moving direction of the mobile communication terminal to the external device via the mobile wide area communication network. In the external device that has received the state parameter, the mobile communication terminal extracts directivity control data corresponding to the base station to be reached from the common data storage unit based on the state parameter and transmits it to the mobile communication terminal. The mobile communication terminal that has received the transmitted directivity control data stores it in the terminal-side control data storage means. Then, the terminal-side directivity control means controls the directivity of the terminal antenna according to the current position of the mobile communication terminal specified by the state specifying means based on the stored control data.

  As described above, since the mobile communication terminal controls the directivity of the terminal antenna before entering the communication area of the base station for narrowband radio, the antenna gain is increased compared to other terminals that are not controlled as such. And interference from surroundings can be suppressed. As a result, it becomes advantageous in the competition regarding the communication with the base station, the connection can be made quickly and the communication quality can be maintained, and the improvement of the communication quality can be expected as compared with the conventional case. Also, with respect to directivity control data, since necessary data is received from an external device, calculation in the mobile communication terminal is not necessary, which is preferable from the viewpoint of reducing processing load. Alternatively, if the data corresponding to all the base stations is provided instead of the calculation, the calculation itself is unnecessary, but in that case, a large-capacity memory is required. On the other hand, in the present invention, it is only necessary to store the directivity control data corresponding to the base station to be reached, and the storage capacity of the terminal-side control data storage means can be reduced.

  (2) A narrow area wireless communication system according to claim 2 has a base station antenna, and forms a limited communication area by narrowing the radiation range of a carrier wave when transmitting a radio signal to a mobile communication terminal. Wireless communication is performed between a wireless base station and a mobile communication terminal having a terminal antenna and entering the communication area of the base station. Further, the mobile communication terminal and the base station are for mobile objects. Communication is possible via a wide area communication network. The mobile communication terminal has state parameter transmission means for transmitting a state parameter including the current position and moving direction of the mobile communication terminal to the base station via the mobile wide area communication network. In addition, the base station is configured so that the directivity of the base station antenna can be controlled first, and further, the position in the connection area that is a predetermined range larger than the communication area with respect to the base station, and the base station at the position. The base station side control data storage means for storing the directivity control data in association with the direction information indicating the direction in which the directivity of the base station antenna should be directed so that the signal strength of the carrier wave of the base station becomes high. Based on the state parameter transmitted via the physical wide area network, the arrival estimation means for estimating the expected arrival position in the connection area of the mobile communication terminal, according to the expected arrival position estimated by the arrival estimation means The base station side directivity control means for controlling the antenna directivity is provided.

  For this reason, in the mobile communication terminal, the state parameter transmission means transmits the state parameter including the current position and the moving direction of the mobile communication terminal to the base station via the mobile wide area communication network. In the base station that has received the state parameter, the arrival estimation means estimates the expected arrival position within the connection area of the mobile communication terminal based on the state parameter. Then, the base station side directivity control means controls the directivity of the base station antenna according to the estimated expected arrival position based on the directivity control data stored in the base station side control data storage means.

  In this way, in the base station, since the mobile communication terminal that has transmitted the state parameter enters the communication area, the directivity of the base station antenna is controlled. Therefore, compared with other terminals that are not subject to such control, With respect to the mobile communication terminal that has become, the antenna gain can be increased, and the surrounding interference can also be suppressed. As a result, it becomes advantageous in competition regarding communication with the base station, and it is possible to connect quickly and maintain communication quality. If the directivity of the base station antenna is controlled on the base station side, an increase in line capacity can be expected. Note that the mobile communication terminal only transmits the state parameter to the base station and is not involved in the calculation for antenna directivity control at all, which is preferable from the viewpoint of reducing the processing load.

  (3) A narrow area wireless communication system according to claim 3 has a base station antenna, and forms a limited communication area by narrowing a radiation range of a carrier wave when transmitting a radio signal to a mobile communication terminal. Wireless communication is performed between a wireless base station and a mobile communication terminal having a terminal antenna and entering the communication area of the base station. Further, the mobile communication terminal and the base station are for mobile objects. Communication is possible via a wide area communication network.

  The mobile communication terminal is configured to be able to control the directivity of the terminal antenna, and further transmits the state parameters including the current position and the movement direction of the mobile communication terminal to the base station via the mobile wide area communication network. State parameter transmission means for performing On the other hand, the base station is configured so that the directivity of the base station antenna can be controlled first, and further, the position in the connection area that is a predetermined range larger than the communication area with respect to the base station, and the base station at the position. Base station side directivity control data in association with the direction information indicating the direction in which the directivity of the base station side antenna should be directed so that the signal strength of the carrier wave from the base station is high, and the position in the connection area, and the position Control data storage means for storing terminal side directivity control data in association with direction information indicating the direction in which the directivity of the terminal antenna should be directed so that the signal strength of the carrier wave from the base station becomes high in the mobile communication terminal An arrival that estimates an expected arrival position of the mobile communication terminal within the connection area based on the state parameter transmitted via the wide area communication network for mobiles Base station side directivity control means for controlling the directivity of the base station antenna in accordance with the expected arrival position estimated by the arrival estimation means based on the base station directivity control data stored in the control means storage means And control data transmission means for transmitting the terminal-side directivity control data stored in the control data storage means to the mobile communication terminal that has transmitted the state parameter via the mobile wide area communication network.

  And further, the mobile communication terminal is based on the terminal side directivity control data stored in the terminal side control data storage means, the terminal side control data storage means for storing the terminal side directivity control data transmitted from the base station, Terminal side directivity control means for controlling the directivity of the terminal antenna according to the current position of the mobile communication terminal specified by the specifying means.

  For this reason, in the mobile communication terminal, the state parameter transmission means transmits the state parameter including the current position and the moving direction of the mobile communication terminal to the base station via the mobile wide area communication network. In the base station that has received the state parameter, the arrival estimation means estimates the expected arrival position within the connection area of the mobile communication terminal based on the state parameter. Then, the base station directivity control means controls the directivity of the base station antenna according to the estimated expected arrival position based on the base station directivity control data stored in the control data storage means.

  The base station transmits the terminal-side directivity control data stored in the control data storage means to the mobile communication terminal that has transmitted the state parameter via the mobile wide area communication network. The mobile communication terminal that has received the transmitted terminal-side directivity control data stores it in the terminal-side control data storage means. Then, the terminal-side directivity control means controls the directivity of the terminal antenna according to the current position of the mobile communication terminal specified by the state specifying means based on the stored control data.

  In this way, the mobile communication terminal controls the directivity of the terminal antenna before entering the communication area of the narrow-band radio base station, and the mobile communication terminal that has transmitted the state parameter also enters the communication area. Since the directivity of the base station antenna is controlled, the antenna gain can be increased as compared with other terminals that are not controlled as described above, and other terminals that are not controlled as such, and ambient interference Can also be suppressed. As a result, it becomes advantageous in competition regarding communication with the base station, and it is possible to connect quickly and maintain communication quality. Since the directivity of the base station antenna is controlled on the base station side, an increase in line capacity can be expected.

  (4) In addition, as shown in claim 4, at least one of the terminal side directivity control means and the base station side directivity control means refers to the stereoscopic map data around the base station, and is within the connection area. It is conceivable to perform directivity control so as to avoid the influence of a building or the like existing between the base station antenna and the terminal antenna.

  Simply paying attention only to the positional relationship between the base station antenna and the terminal antenna, for example, if there is a building or the like that blocks the radio wave propagation path between them, appropriate directivity control cannot be realized. Therefore, by referring to the three-dimensional map data in this way, it is possible to estimate the radio wave propagation path between the base station antenna and the terminal antenna taking into account the influence of the building, etc. Can be controlled.

  In this case, if the terminal-side directivity control means executes the directivity control with reference to the three-dimensional map data, the three-dimensional map data includes, for example, a navigation device provided in a vehicle on which the mobile communication terminal is mounted. It can be used (see claim 5).

  (5) When the narrow-area radio communication system according to claim 3 is assumed, as shown in claim 6, directivity control data corrected with reference to the stereoscopic map data on the base station side is obtained. You may make it transmit to a mobile communication terminal. In other words, since the base station side directivity control means is premised on performing directivity control with reference to the three-dimensional map data around the base station, the control data correction means is stored in the control data storage means in the same manner. The stored terminal directivity control data is corrected with reference to the three-dimensional map data around the base station. Then, the corrected terminal-side directivity control data is transmitted to the mobile communication terminal by the control data transmission means. In this way, as a mobile communication terminal, only directivity control is performed using the received terminal-side directivity control data, and the mobile communication terminal is not adversely affected by a building or the like between the base station antenna and the terminal antenna. Appropriate directivity control can be performed.

  Similarly, when the narrow-area radio communication system according to claim 1 is assumed, it may be as shown in claim 7. That is, the control data correction means of the external device extracts the directivity control data corresponding to the base station that the communication terminal is scheduled to reach, extracted from the common data storage means, and the three-dimensional map data around the base station that is scheduled to reach from now on. Refer to and correct. Then, the corrected directivity control data is transmitted to the mobile communication terminal. In this way, as a mobile communication terminal, the directivity control is merely performed using the received terminal-side directivity control data, and the mobile communication terminal is not adversely affected by the building between the base station antenna and the terminal antenna. Such appropriate directivity control can be performed.

  (6) In the case of an obstacle existing in a real estate manner such as a building, directivity that avoids adverse effects can be assumed in advance by referring to the three-dimensional map data. However, in the case of an obstacle that temporarily exists between the base station antenna and the terminal antenna, such as an automobile, the 3D map data cannot be handled. Therefore, as shown in claim 8, at least one of the terminal-side directivity control means and the base station-side directivity control means is a detection obtained from an object detection means for detecting an object existing in the connection area. It is conceivable to refer to the data and execute directivity control so as to avoid the influence of the detected object existing between the base station antenna and the terminal antenna.

  In this way, it is possible to perform appropriate directivity control in consideration of the presence of an obstacle in real time. Note that the obstacles that exist temporarily are not limited to the automobiles described above, but may be, for example, temporary buildings or signs that do not exist in the three-dimensional map data.

  In this case, if the terminal side directivity control means executes directivity control with reference to the detection data, it is conceivable that the object detection means is provided in a vehicle on which the mobile communication terminal is mounted. 9).

  In addition, regardless of whether the mobile communication terminal side or the base station side has, it is conceivable that the object detection means adopts a configuration in which, for example, an image obtained by photographing an object is analyzed and detected (see claim 10).

  (7) Further, as shown in claim 11, the state parameter transmitted by the mobile communication terminal to the base station includes the expected arrival time of the mobile communication terminal to the connection area, and the base station has the expected arrival time. Prior to this, directivity control of the base station antenna may be executed.

  In this way, it is possible to appropriately control the directivity of the base station antenna before the mobile communication terminal reaches the connection area, and it is possible to more reliably enjoy the advantage in the competition related to communication with the base station.

  In this case, the moving speed of the mobile communication terminal is based on, for example, the traveling speed of the vehicle detected by the vehicle speed detecting means included in the vehicle on which the mobile communication terminal is mounted. It is conceivable to perform calculation by a navigation device (see claim 12).

  (8) Further, it is conceivable that the current position of the mobile communication terminal is based on vehicle position information measured by a positioning device provided in a vehicle on which the mobile communication terminal is mounted (see claim 13). Further, it is conceivable that this positioning device adopts, for example, a device that calculates the position of the vehicle based on a GPS signal from a GPS satellite (see claim 14).

  (9) In addition, as shown in claim 15, it is a mobile communication terminal used in the narrow-area radio communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 14, and is described with respect to the mobile communication terminal in each claim. It can also be realized as a mobile communication terminal having the above configuration. Moreover, as shown in claim 16, a base station used in the narrow-area radio communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the base has the configuration described in relation to the base station in each claim. It can also be realized as a station. If it is such a mobile communication terminal or a base station, it will play a significant role in exhibiting the above-mentioned effect by being used in the above-mentioned narrow area radio communication system.

  Embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings. Needless to say, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the following examples, and can take various forms as long as they belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

[First embodiment]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of the narrowband radio communication system of the first embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the narrow-area wireless communication system of the present embodiment includes a mobile communication terminal (hereinafter simply referred to as “terminal”) MS mounted on a vehicle 1 as a mobile body, and a communication area of the own station. Via a wireless LAN base station (hereinafter simply referred to as “base station”) BS that performs wireless communication with a terminal MS existing in the mobile terminal, a mobile phone network 4 (including the mobile phone wireless base station 3), and the Internet 5. And an application service provider (ASP) server 6 that can communicate with the base station BS.

  The terminal MS and the base station BS perform wireless LAN communication. This embodiment is based on the technical standard of 802.11a, which is an international standard for wireless LAN that enables communication at a maximum of 54 Mbps using a frequency of 5 GHz band, and the connection method is a CSMA / CA method. This is a method of competing and connecting if there is an empty slot while carrying out carrier sense.

[Configuration of mobile communication terminal MS]
FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the mobile communication terminal MS.
The mobile communication terminal MS includes a terminal antenna 11 including a plurality of directional antennas and one omnidirectional antenna arranged so that directivities are directed in different directions, a wireless LAN base station (hereinafter simply referred to as a base station). .) Transmitter 12 that modulates a carrier wave with transmission data to BS to generate a transmission signal, receiver 13 that demodulates a reception signal from terminal antenna 11 to generate reception data, and transmission from transmitter 12 A directional coupler 14 that supplies a signal to the terminal antenna 11 and a reception signal from the terminal antenna 11 to the receiver 13, a directivity control circuit 15 that controls the directivity of the terminal antenna 11, and a storage device 16. And a control circuit 17.

  A plurality of (for example, 4 to 8) directional antennas of the terminal antenna 11 are arranged at a predetermined distance on the roof portion of the vehicle 1, and the phase of the output signal of each antenna is controlled by the directional control circuit 15. Thus, a phased array antenna is configured in which the directivity of the entire antenna is controlled in a desired direction.

  The directivity control circuit 15 includes a phase shifter (not shown) whose phase control amount is determined according to the selection signal SEL from the control circuit 17 for each of the plurality of directivity antennas of the terminal antenna 11.

  The control circuit 17 is configured around a known microcomputer, and is stored in the storage device 16 in addition to the communication control processing for transmitting and receiving user data to and from the base station BS using the transmitter 12 and the receiver 13. Based on the directivity control data and the like, directivity control processing (described later) for generating the selection signal SEL and the like is executed.

The functions of the “terminal-side directivity control means” are realized by the operations of the control circuit 17 and the directivity control circuit 15.
The storage device 16 includes a ROM in which a communication program described later is stored in advance, a RAM and a flash memory for storing processing results of the control circuit 17 and information from an external device (for example, state parameters and directivity control data). Etc. The storage device 16 corresponds to “terminal-side control data storage means”.

  The mobile communication terminal MS is connected to a wireless LAN wireless device 18 connected to the control circuit 17, and the wireless LAN wireless device 18 is connected to the in-vehicle server 40 by a wireless device gateway 39. A wide area network wireless transceiver 21 (for mobile communication) such as a cellular phone network is connected to the wireless apparatus gateway 39, and a communication antenna 42 is provided in the wide area network wireless transceiver 41. ing.

  The in-vehicle server 40 is connected to an in-vehicle LAN 45. In addition, the in-vehicle LAN 45 includes a navigation device 30, a camera unit 32, an HMI (Human Machine Interface) 34, and a vehicle speed sensor 36 for detecting the traveling speed of the vehicle. Etc. are connected.

  The navigation device 30 includes a control device having a microcomputer as a main part, a DVD-ROM storing a three-dimensional map database, a map data input device for inputting map data from the DVD-ROM, and a calculation result by the control device. And a storage medium (none of which is shown) for storing map data. Note that the storage medium can retain the stored contents even when the power supply to the navigation device 30 is interrupted, and is, for example, an EEPROM, a flash ROM, or a hard disk. The navigation device 30 also includes a position detection device (not shown). The position detection device includes a known gyroscope, a distance sensor, a GPS receiver that detects the position of the vehicle based on radio waves from a satellite, and the like. is doing. The azimuth angle of the vehicle can also be obtained based on the output signal from the gyroscope. In addition, since time data also exists in data received from GPS satellites, a time corresponding to the calculated current position (current time, that is, information indicating what time the current position is) can be obtained. Therefore, the navigation device 30 can provide information such as the current position, the vehicle azimuth angle, the current time, and the data of the three-dimensional map to the terminal MS via the in-vehicle LAN 45.

  The current position of the vehicle is indicated by, for example, latitude and longitude (x, y), and the azimuth angle of the vehicle is, for example, an angle α when the traveling direction of the vehicle 1 is a positive direction with the counterclockwise direction based on the north. Can be defined as

  The vehicle speed sensor 36 can detect the traveling speed (vehicle speed) of the vehicle as described above, and the vehicle speed is provided to the navigation device 30 and the terminal MS via the in-vehicle LAN 45.

  The camera unit 32 includes, for example, a camera that captures the situation in front of the vehicle and a camera that captures the situation in the rear of the vehicle, and analyzes the images captured by the camera, for example, vehicles existing around the vehicle. Obstacles to wireless LAN communication, which will be described later, such as roadside objects and the like are detected. A technique for detecting an obstacle from such a captured image is known as a technique related to automatic driving of an automobile (for example, elemental techniques such as auto cruise and lane keeping).

The HMI 34 includes an operation input unit including various key switches and a macrophone, a display, a speaker, and the like as an output unit.
The information provided to the terminal MS (from the navigation device 30) such as the current position, the vehicle azimuth angle, the current time, and the vehicle speed (from the vehicle speed sensor 36) correspond to the “state parameter”. It is stored in the storage device 16 by the control circuit 17.

  Then, the control circuit 17 reads out the state parameters as necessary, and the mobile phone radio base station 3 via the wireless LAN wireless device 18, the wireless device gateway 39, the wide area network wireless transceiver 41 and the communication antenna 42. Send to. The transmitted status parameters are sent to the ASP server 6 via the mobile phone network 4 and the Internet 5 as shown in FIG. The transmission of the status parameter corresponds to the function of the “status parameter transmission means” of the present invention. As will be described in detail later, the state parameter sent to the ASP server 6 only needs to include at least information that indicates the current position and traveling direction of the vehicle.

[Configuration of base station BS and ASP server 6]
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the base station BS and the ASP server 6.
The base station BS includes an omnidirectional base station antenna 21, a transmitter 22 that modulates a carrier wave with transmission data to the terminal MS, and generates a transmission signal. The base station BS demodulates the reception signal and receives reception data from the terminal MS. A receiver 23 to be generated, a directional coupler 24 for supplying a transmission signal from the transmitter 22 to the base station antenna 21 and a reception signal from the base station antenna 21 to the receiver 23, and storing various data. And a control circuit 27 that is configured around a known microcomputer and that executes various processes based on data transmitted to and received from the terminal MS.

  Note that there are one or more base stations BS in this embodiment, and the wireless LAN communication area (also referred to as a hot spot) is a relatively narrow area (for example, a radius of about several meters) centered on the base station antenna 21, for example. Area). The position of the base station BS is stored in the three-dimensional map database of the navigation device 30 mounted on the vehicle as with the terminal MS.

  On the other hand, the ASP server 6 stores directivity control data used by the terminal MS for controlling the directivity of the terminal antenna 11, and a storage device 63 functioning as “common data storage means” and data via the Internet 5. An interface circuit 61 for performing communication and a known microcomputer are mainly configured. In response to a request from the terminal MS, directivity control data stored in the storage device 63 is transmitted to the terminal MS that has made the request. And a control circuit 62 that executes processing for transmission and the like.

  The storage device 63 of the ASP server 6 stores, for each base station BS, a position in a connection area that is a predetermined range larger than the hot spot with reference to the base station BS, and a carrier wave from the base station BS at the position. Directivity control data is stored that associates direction information indicating the direction in which the directivity of the terminal antenna 11 should be directed so as to increase the signal strength. If there is one base station BS, there is of course one directivity control data, but if there are a plurality of base stations BS, there are as many directivity control data as the number of base stations BS.

  Then, the control circuit 62 specifies the base station BS that the terminal MS will reach from now on the basis of the state parameter sent from the terminal MS, and stores the directivity control data corresponding to the base station BS in the storage device 63. And the process which transmits to the terminal MS which transmitted the state parameter is performed.

  The storage device 63 of the ASP server 6 also stores the “height” and “performance” of the base station antenna 21 for each base station BS, and relates to the height and performance of the base station antenna 21. Information is also transmitted to the terminal MS that has transmitted the state parameter. The performance of the base station antenna 21 is, for example, transmission output communication quality.

[Communication procedure]
Next, the directivity control of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the communication sequence diagram of FIG. 4 and the control image diagram of FIG.

  FIG. 4 shows communication and processing procedures performed between the terminal MS, the base station BS, and the ASP server 6, and each process is performed by each control circuit included in the terminal MS, the base station BS, and the ASP server 6. 17, 27, 62.

  First, in the first step 1 (hereinafter, the step is simply abbreviated as S), preparation processing for directivity control is started based on the position of the hot spot. Specifically, based on the map information obtained from the navigation device 30, it is determined whether or not there is a hot spot ahead in the vehicle traveling direction. If the hot spot exists, the process proceeds to S2.

  In the case of “a hot spot is present in the forward direction of the vehicle”, if there is no intersection between the vehicle and the hot spot, the possibility of going to the hot spot is very high. However, for example, when there is an intersection and a hot spot exists at each end of a plurality of roads branched at the intersection, the hot spot cannot be specified before the intersection. Therefore, in that case, for example, a hot spot may be specified based on a road that has traveled through an intersection.

  As will be described later, since the terminal MS needs to acquire the directivity control data by communicating with the ASP server 6 in this preparation processing stage, the time required for acquiring the directivity control data (“required for acquisition”). With regard to “time”, it is desirable to consider the vehicle speed and the like.) In consideration of this, it is necessary to start this preparatory processing before the predetermined distance from the hot spot. Therefore, for example, it is only necessary to start communication to the ASP server 6 according to other conditions before reaching a predetermined distance from the hot spot, but if communication is not started, communication is forcibly started. As a result, for example, when directivity control data corresponding to a plurality of base stations BS is received, they are temporarily stored in the storage device 16 of the terminal MS. Then, appropriate directivity control data (that is, directivity control data corresponding to the base station BS that will be reached based on the traveling direction) may be selected from those after the intersection branch.

  Further, for example, when a guidance route is set in the navigation device 30, the vehicle is expected to travel according to the guidance route. Therefore, the base station BS that does not exist on the guidance route is excluded, and It may be determined whether or not a hot spot exists.

  In S2, the status parameter is sent from the terminal MS to the ASP server 6. Specifically, when the terminal MS issues a connection request for starting communication and a link is established with a certain mobile phone radio base station 3 around the vehicle 1, a mobile phone network 4 including the mobile phone radio base station 3, The terminal MS sends the status parameters stored in the storage device 16 to the ASP server 6 via the Internet 5. As described above, the state parameters stored in the storage device 16 of the terminal MS are information such as the current position, vehicle azimuth angle, and current time from the navigation device 30 and the vehicle speed from the vehicle speed sensor 36. May be acquired from, for example, the navigation device 30 or the vehicle speed sensor 36 immediately before sending the state parameter of S2, or the data from the navigation device 30 or the vehicle speed sensor 36 is periodically acquired and stored. 16 may be stored and the latest data may be transmitted.

  In S3, the ASP server 6 specifies the base station BS that the terminal MS will reach from now on the basis of the state parameter sent from the terminal MS, and stores the directivity control data corresponding to the base station BS in the storage device. 63. In S4, a process of transmitting the extracted directivity control data to the terminal MS that has transmitted the state parameter is executed. In addition to the directivity control data, information on the height and performance of the base station antenna 21 corresponding to the base station BS is also transmitted to the terminal MS that has transmitted the state parameter.

  In S5, the terminal MS receives the directivity control data transmitted from the ASP server 6 and stores (updates) it in the storage device 16. Needless to say, when receiving for the first time, it is newly stored, and when receiving for the second time or later, it is updated and stored in the latest directivity control data instead of the previous directivity control data. Since only the latest directivity control data is stored by updating as described above, the storage capacity of the storage device 16 can be relatively small. That is, for example, assuming that there are 1000 base stations BS, if the directivity control data for 1000 base stations is stored in the storage device 16 of the terminal MS in advance, it is not necessary to exchange with the ASP server 6. However, a large-capacity storage device 16 must be prepared. In addition, if the number of base stations BS increases, the directivity control data stored accordingly must increase. On the other hand, if the directivity control data is collectively managed on the ASP server 6 side, it is preferable from the viewpoint of reducing the capacity of the storage device 16 of the terminal MS as described above. It can easily cope with addition.

  In subsequent S <b> 6, the terminal MS corrects the directivity control data using the three-dimensional map data acquired from the navigation device 30. As described above, the connection area is a predetermined range larger than the hot spot with reference to the base station BS. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the vehicle 1 travels on the road on which the vehicle 1 is currently traveling toward the base station BS. As a result, a connection region exists before the hot spot. In the connection area, a building or the like exists between the base station BS (more specifically, the base station antenna 21 (see FIG. 3)) and the terminal MS (more specifically, the terminal antenna 11 (see FIG. 2)). Directivity control is executed so as to avoid the influence of (see FIG. 5). Specifically, a radio wave propagation path is estimated in consideration of reflection by a building or the like, a multipath propagation path is specified, and the directivity of the terminal antenna 11 is controlled in a direction to avoid such a multipath propagation path. Thus, the signal strength of the carrier wave from the base station BS is increased in the connection area.

  It should be noted that information regarding the height and performance of the base station antenna 21 is also used in correcting the directivity control data in S6. That is, the height of the base station antenna 21 is used to determine the propagation path of radio waves. The performance is used to determine the transmission output on the terminal MS side, the degree of variable antenna gain, and the like. As control for determining the optimum communication path, for example, when the traffic is high, the quality of the communication path is poor, so the beam is sharpened to avoid interference waves. If this is not the case, control such as thickening the beam can be considered. Alternatively, control for varying the transmission output can be considered.

The terminal MS updates and stores the directivity control data corrected in this way in the storage device 16 (S7).
Then, the terminal MS determines that it has entered the connection area based on the current position data obtained from the navigation device 30. If it has entered, the terminal MS uses the directivity control data stored in the storage device 16. The directivity control of the antenna 11 is started (S8), and when communication with the base station BS is established, the base station BS and the terminal MS shift to a large-capacity data communication connection state (S9).

After this communication is finished, the terminal MS finishes the directivity control (S10).
[Effect of the first embodiment]
(1) As described above, since the terminal MS controls the directivity of the terminal antenna 11 before entering the communication area (hot spot) of the base station BS, the antenna is compared with other terminals that are not controlled as such. The gain can be increased and ambient interference can also be suppressed. As a result, it becomes advantageous in the competition regarding the communication with the base station BS, and the connection can be made quickly and the communication quality can be maintained.

  (2) In the case of the present embodiment, since the directivity control data used in the terminal MS is received from the ASP server 6, no calculation in the terminal MS is required, and the processing load is reduced. It is preferable from the viewpoint. If the directivity control data corresponding to all the base stations BS are provided instead of the calculation, the calculation itself is unnecessary, but in that case, a large-capacity memory is required. On the other hand, only the directivity control data corresponding to the base station BS to be reached from now on needs to be stored in the storage device 16 of the terminal MS of this embodiment, and the storage capacity of the storage device 16 can be reduced.

  (3) Further, when attention is paid only to the positional relationship between the base station BS and the terminal MS, for example, there is a building or the like that blocks the radio wave propagation path between the base station antenna 21 and the terminal antenna 11. It is not possible to realize directivity control appropriate for the above. However, the terminal MS in the case of the present embodiment refers to the three-dimensional map data possessed by the navigation device 30 mounted on the same vehicle, and the base station antenna 21 and the terminal antenna 22 that take into account the influence of buildings and the like. The radio wave propagation path between them can be estimated, and appropriate directivity control can be realized so as not to be adversely affected by buildings or the like.

  (4) The timing for sending the state parameter to the ASP server 6 may be automatically performed, or may be executed in accordance with an instruction from the user (for example, the driver of the vehicle 1) via the HMI 34.

[Another aspect of the first embodiment]
(A) As illustrated in FIG. 5, in the case of an obstacle that exists in a real estate manner such as a building, directivity that avoids adverse effects by referring to the three-dimensional map data may be assumed in advance. it can. However, in the case of an obstacle that temporarily exists between the base station antenna 21 and the terminal antenna 11, such as a preceding vehicle, the 3D map data cannot be handled. In that case, the terminal MS may correct the directivity control based on the obstacle information detected by the camera unit 32. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the camera unit 32 is instructed to detect an obstacle in front of the vehicle 1 when the terminal MS enters the connection area (or may be slightly ahead). The camera unit 32 analyzes an image obtained by a camera that captures the situation in front of the vehicle 1 and detects an obstacle such as a vehicle existing around the vehicle 1. Here, the position and size of the obstacle with respect to the own vehicle are detected. When the terminal MS obtains information on the obstacle from the camera unit 32 and performs directivity control using the directivity control data corrected based on the three-dimensional map data, whether or not radio waves are blocked by the detected obstacle. Determine whether. And if it is interrupted | blocked, the directivity of the terminal antenna 11 is further controlled so that it is not interrupted | blocked.

  In this way, it is possible to perform appropriate directivity control in consideration of the presence of an obstacle in real time. Note that the obstacles that exist temporarily are not limited to the automobiles described above, but may be, for example, temporary buildings or signs that do not exist in the three-dimensional map data.

  In some cases, the direction that is not blocked by an obstacle may exist only in a direction that is not appropriate for the base station BS. In that case, for example, the directivity control of the terminal antenna 11 may be temporarily stopped and changed to an omnidirectional pattern.

  Note that the antenna control parameter can be calculated as follows. For example, an angle β with respect to the north (N 2) direction of a straight line connecting the current position of the terminal MS and the position of the mobile phone radio base station 3 is calculated. Then, from this angle β and the azimuth angle α of the vehicle 1 with respect to the north (N), the azimuth angle θ = α−β of the mobile phone radio base station 3 with respect to the traveling direction of the vehicle 1 is calculated. Let θ be the antenna control parameter.

  (B) As shown in S6 of FIG. 4, the terminal MS corrects the directivity control data using the stereoscopic map data acquired from the navigation device 30. For example, the ASP server 6 includes the stereoscopic map data, and the ASP server 6 After correcting the directivity control data using the three-dimensional map data, the corrected directivity control data may be sent to the terminal MS.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of the narrowband radio communication system of the second embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 7, the narrow-area wireless communication system of the present embodiment is a base that performs wireless communication between a terminal MS mounted on a vehicle 1 as a moving body and a terminal MS that exists in the communication area of the local station. And a wireless LAN server 106 capable of communicating with the base station BS via the mobile phone network 4 (including the mobile phone radio base station 3) and the Internet 5.

  In the case of the first embodiment, the directivity control of the terminal antenna 11 is executed on the terminal MS side. In the case of the second embodiment, the directivity control of the base station antenna 21 is executed on the base station BS side. Is. The same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

[Configuration of mobile communication terminal MS]
FIG. 8 shows a schematic configuration of the mobile communication terminal MS in the case of the second embodiment.
In the case of the first embodiment, in order to execute the directivity control of the terminal antenna 11 on the terminal MS side, the terminal antenna 11 has a plurality of directional antennas arranged so that the directivities are different from each other, and one It consisted of an omnidirectional antenna. And as shown in FIG. 2, the directivity control circuit 15 for controlling the directivity of the terminal antenna 11 was provided.

  On the other hand, in the case of the second embodiment, since it is not necessary to perform directivity control in the terminal MS, as shown in FIG. 8, the non-directional terminal antenna 111 is provided, and the second antenna shown in FIG. The directivity control circuit 15 existing in the case of one embodiment is not provided.

  Other than that, the transmitter 12, the receiver 13, the directional coupler 14, the storage device 16, and the control circuit 17 have the same configuration. However, since directivity control does not have to be performed in the terminal MS, the directivity control data is not stored in the storage device 16, and the control circuit 17 does not execute directivity control. That is, it is not necessary to provide a program for the control.

  Further, the wireless LAN wireless device 18, the wireless device gateway 39, the wide area network wireless transmission / reception device 41, the communication antenna 42, and the in-vehicle server 40 are the same as those in the first embodiment. Further, the navigation device 30, the HMI 34, the vehicle speed sensor 36, etc. connected to the in-vehicle LAN 45 have the same configuration as in the first embodiment, but the camera unit 32 that exists in the case of the first embodiment shown in FIG. It does not have to be. In the first embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 6, the directivity of the terminal antenna is controlled by the presence of the preceding vehicle or the like, but in the case of the second embodiment, such a situation is assumed. This is because it is not necessary. Of course, it may be present as long as it is used for automatic vehicle-related control such as auto cruise or lane keeping, but it does not require a camera unit for wireless LAN communication. Similarly, in the case of the first embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 5, in order to control the directivity of the terminal antenna while avoiding the area where the building or the like becomes a multipath propagation path, Three-dimensional map data provided in 30 was used. However, since directivity control of the terminal antenna 111 is not required in the second embodiment, the map data provided in the navigation device 30 does not have to be stereoscopic map data, and may be planar map data. Absent.

  Then, the control circuit 17 reads out the state parameters as necessary, and the mobile phone radio base station 3 via the wireless LAN wireless device 18, the wireless device gateway 39, the wide area network wireless transceiver 41 and the communication antenna 42. Send to. The transmitted state parameters are sent to the wireless LAN server 106 via the cellular phone network 4 and the Internet 5 as shown in FIG. As will be described in detail later, in addition to the current position and traveling direction of the vehicle, the state parameter sent to the wireless LAN server 106 includes an estimated arrival time indicating when the base station BS is about to reach. It is. For example, the expected arrival time is calculated based on the map data from the current position to the base station BS, and the time required only to move the distance is calculated based on the current speed, and added to the current time. Etc. As a function of the navigation device 30, such a method for calculating the predicted arrival time is known, and thus the predicted arrival time obtained in the navigation device 30 using the known method may be used.

[Configuration of base station BS and wireless LAN server 106]
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the base station BS and the wireless LAN server 106.

  In this embodiment, the base station BS and the wireless LAN server 106 are connected by the dedicated communication line L. However, for example, the base station BS can incorporate the function of the wireless LAN server 106. Therefore, the division into the base station BS and the wireless LAN server 106 is convenient. That is, for example, when there are a plurality of base stations BS, one wireless LAN server 106 is prepared for the plurality of base stations BS, and one wireless LAN server 106 is connected to the plurality of base stations BS. This is because it is conceivable to adopt a configuration that transmits directivity control data described later. Therefore, the base station BS and the wireless LAN server 106 according to the present embodiment correspond to the “base station” in claim 2 of the claims.

  First, the base station BS will be described. In the case of the first embodiment, in order to execute the directivity control of the terminal antenna 11 on the terminal MS side, the base station antenna 21 employs an omnidirectional antenna as shown in FIG. In the case of the example, since the directivity control is performed on the base station BS side, as shown in FIG. 9, the base station antenna 121 has the same configuration as the terminal antenna 11 (see FIG. 2) in the first embodiment, That is, it consists of a plurality of directional antennas and one omnidirectional antenna arranged so that directivities are directed in different directions. And as shown in FIG. 9, the directivity control circuit 122 for controlling the directivity of the base station antenna 121 is provided. The base station BS also includes an interface circuit 26 for performing data communication with the wireless LAN server 103.

  On the other hand, the wireless LAN server 106 stores directivity control data used by the base station BS for controlling the directivity of the base station antenna 121, and a storage device 163 that functions as a “base station control data storage unit”. The interface circuit 161 for performing data communication with the base station BS via the data communication via the Internet 5 and the dedicated line L, and a known microcomputer are mainly configured. And a control circuit 162 that executes processing for transmitting directivity control data stored in the storage device 163.

  The directivity control data stored in the storage device 163 of the wireless LAN server 106 includes the position in the connection area that is a predetermined range larger than the hot spot with respect to the base station BS, and the base station BS at the position. The directivity control data is associated with azimuth information indicating the direction in which the directivity of the base station antenna 121 should be directed so that the signal strength of the carrier wave increases. As described above, if a configuration in which directivity control data is transmitted from a single wireless LAN server 106 to a plurality of base stations BS is employed, the storage device 163 has the same number of base stations BS. The directivity control data is stored.

  Then, the control circuit 162 specifies the base station BS that the terminal MS will reach from now on the basis of the state parameter sent from the terminal MS, and stores the directivity control data corresponding to the base station BS in the storage device 163. Then, the extracted directivity control data is transmitted to the corresponding base station BS. If there is only one base station BS, the directivity control data is simply read from the storage device 163 and sent to the base station BS without being extracted.

Returning to the description of the base station BS, the base station BS receives the directivity control data transmitted from the wireless LAN server 106 via the interface circuit 161 and stores it in the storage device 163. The control circuit 27 executes directivity control processing for generating the selection signal SEL and sending it to the directivity control circuit 122 based on the directivity control data stored in the storage device 16. The operations of the control circuit 27 and the directivity control circuit 122 realize the function of “base station side directivity control means”. In this embodiment, the storage device 26 of the base station BS or the wireless LAN server 106 The storage device 163 corresponds to “base station side control data storage means”.

[Communication procedure]
Next, the directivity control of the second embodiment will be described with reference to the communication sequence diagram of FIG. 10 and the control image diagram of FIG.

  FIG. 10 shows communication and processing procedures performed between the terminal MS, the base station BS, and the wireless LAN server 106. Each processing is performed by each of the terminals MS, the base station BS, and the wireless LAN server 106. It is executed by the control circuits 17, 27 and 162.

  First, in the first step 11, preparation processing for directivity control is started based on the position of the hot spot. Specifically, the terminal MS determines whether there is a hot spot in front of the vehicle traveling direction based on the map information obtained from the navigation device 30. If the hot spot exists, the process proceeds to S12.

  In S12, the state parameter and the predicted arrival time are sent from the terminal MS to the wireless LAN server 106. As described above, the predicted arrival time includes the predicted arrival time indicating when the base station BS is about to reach. For example, the expected arrival time is calculated based on the map data from the current position to the base station BS, and the time required only to move the distance is calculated based on the current speed, and added to the current time. Etc. As a function of the navigation device 30, such a method for calculating the predicted arrival time is known, and thus the predicted arrival time obtained in the navigation device 30 using the known method may be used.

  In S13, the wireless LAN server 106 identifies the base station BS that the terminal MS will reach from now on the basis of the state parameter transmitted from the terminal MS, and stores the directivity control data corresponding to the base station BS. Extract from device 163. In S14, the extracted directivity control data and the expected arrival time obtained from the terminal MS are transmitted to the corresponding base station BS. As described above, if there is only one base station BS, the directivity control data is simply read from the storage device 163 and transmitted to the base station BS together with the expected arrival time.

  In S <b> 15, the base station BS receives the directivity control data and the expected arrival time transmitted from the wireless LAN server 106 via the interface circuit 26 and stores them in the storage device 25.

  In the base station BS, the control circuit 27 waits until the expected arrival time stored in the storage device 25 (S16). When the expected arrival time is reached, the directivity control data stored in the storage device 25 is stored. Based on this, directivity control processing for generating the selection signal SEL and sending it to the directivity control circuit 122 is started.

  When the terminal MS enters the connection area and establishes communication with the base station BS, the base station BS and the terminal MS shift to a large capacity data communication connection state (S18). After this communication is completed, the base station BS ends the directivity control (S19).

[Effect of the second embodiment]
(1) As described above, the terminal MS transmits the state parameter including the current position and the moving direction of the terminal MS to the base station BS, and the base station BS that has received the state parameter receives the state parameter based on the state parameter. Estimate the expected arrival position in the connection area. Then, the directivity of the base station antenna 21 is controlled according to the estimated expected arrival position. Therefore, the antenna gain can be increased for the terminal MS that is the control target as compared with other terminals that are not set as the control target, and the surrounding interference can also be suppressed. As a result, it becomes advantageous in competition regarding communication with the base station BS, and it is possible to connect quickly and maintain communication quality. Since the directivity of the base station antenna 21 is controlled on the base station BS side, an increase in line capacity can be expected.

  (2) In addition, since the terminal MS only transmits the state parameter to the wireless LAN server 106 and does not participate in the calculation for controlling the antenna directivity at all, it is preferable from the viewpoint of reducing the processing load.

  (3) Also, in the present embodiment, since the predicted arrival time is included in the state parameters transmitted from the terminal MS to the wireless LAN server 106, the direction of the base station antenna 21 is determined before the terminal MS reaches the connection area. Therefore, it is possible to enjoy the advantage in the competition regarding the communication with the base station BS.

[Another aspect of the second embodiment]
(A) In the case of the first embodiment, the terminal MS corrects the directivity control data using the three-dimensional map data acquired from the navigation device 30 (see S6 in FIG. 4). Also in this case, the base station BS may be provided with 3D map data, and the directivity control data may be corrected using the 3D map data.

  In addition, the wireless LAN server 106 includes 3D map data, and the wireless LAN server 106 corrects the directivity control data using the 3D map data, and then sends the corrected directivity control data to the base station BS. It may be.

  (B) As another aspect of the first embodiment, for example, in the case of an obstacle that temporarily exists between the base station antenna 21 and the terminal antenna 11 such as a preceding vehicle, the 3D map data cannot be used. Directivity control may be corrected based on obstacle information detected by the MS with the camera unit 32. Stated. Similarly, the base station BS may include a camera unit and perform the same directivity control correction. In some cases, the direction that is not blocked by an obstacle may exist only in a direction that is not appropriate for the terminal MS. In that case, for example, the directivity control of the base station antenna 21 may be temporarily stopped and changed to the non-directional pattern.

[Other examples and others]
(A) In the first embodiment, the directivity control is executed on the terminal MS side, and in the second embodiment, the directivity control is executed on the base station BS side. Instead, directivity control may be executed on both the terminal MS side and the base station BS side.

  (B) In the above embodiment, the direction adjustment in the horizontal plane is exemplified as the directivity control. However, for example, the adjustment in the vertical direction may be performed. However, when the adjustment is performed in both the horizontal and vertical directions, the processing load increases and the cost of the terminal MS increases. Since the cost of the terminal MS is generally borne by the user, adjustment only in the horizontal direction may be performed. This is because the wireless LAN is close proximity communication, but when connecting from a distance, the horizontal direction is more dominant than the vertical direction.

  In addition, since it is preferable to be aware of the vertical direction at the time of proximity, for example, if directivity control is executed on both the terminal MS side and the base station BS side, the terminal MS side only adjusts in the horizontal direction, and the base station BS side May perform horizontal and vertical adjustments. In the base station BS, it is relatively easy to build performance with priority over cost. Therefore, the performance of the terminal MS with reduced user burden can be supplemented on the base station BS side.

  (C) The above embodiment has been described on the assumption that the terminal MS and the base station BS perform so-called wireless LAN communication. However, the present invention is applicable not only to a wireless LAN but also to DSRC, ETC, and millimeter wave communication.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a narrow area wireless communication system according to a first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the mobile communication terminal MS of 1st Example. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of base station BS and ASP server 6 of 1st Example. It is a communication sequence diagram regarding directivity control in the first embodiment. It is an image figure of directivity control in the 1st example. It is explanatory drawing which shows another aspect of 1st Example. It is a whole block diagram of the narrow-range radio | wireless communications system of 2nd Example. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the mobile communication terminal MS of 2nd Example. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of base station BS and the wireless LAN server 106 of 2nd Example. It is a communication sequence figure regarding directivity control in the 2nd example. It is an image figure of directivity control in the 2nd example.

Explanation of symbols

  MS ... mobile communication terminal, BS ... base station, 1 ... vehicle, 3 ... mobile phone radio base station, 4 ... mobile phone network, 5 ... internet, 6 ... application service provider (ASP) server, 11, 111 ... terminal antenna, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 ... Transmitter, 13 ... Receiver, 14 ... Directional coupler, 15 ... Directionality control circuit, 16 ... Memory | storage device, 17 ... Control circuit, 18 ... Wireless apparatus for wireless LANs, 21, 121 ... Base station antenna, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 22 ... Transmitter, 23 ... Receiver, 24 ... Directional coupler, 25 ... Storage device, 27 ... Control circuit, 30 ... Navigation device, 32 ... Camera unit, 34 ... HMI (Human Machine Interface), 36 ... Vehicle speed sensor, 39 ... Wireless device gateway, 40 ... In-vehicle server, 41 ... Wide area network wireless transmitter / receiver, 42 ... Communication antenna, 45 ... In-vehicle L N, 61, 161 ... interface circuit, 62, 162 ... control circuit, 63, 163 ... storage device, 106 ... wireless LAN server 122 ... directivity control circuit.

Claims (16)

A base station for a narrow area radio having a base station antenna, forming a limited communication area by narrowing a radiation range of a carrier wave when transmitting a radio signal to a mobile communication terminal, and a terminal antenna, A narrow-area wireless communication system that performs wireless communication with a mobile communication terminal that has entered a communication area of a station,
Furthermore, an external device capable of communicating with at least the mobile communication terminal via a wide area communication network for mobiles is provided,
The mobile communication terminal is
The directivity of the terminal antenna is configured to be controllable,
State parameter transmission means for transmitting a state parameter including a current position and a movement direction of the mobile communication terminal to the external device via a wide area communication network for mobiles,
The external device is
For each base station, the position in the connection area, which is a predetermined range larger than the communication area with respect to the base station, and the directivity of the terminal antenna so that the signal strength of the carrier wave from the base station is high at the position. Common data storage means for storing directivity control data in association with direction information indicating the direction in which gender should be directed,
Based on the state parameters transmitted from the mobile communication terminal via the mobile wide area network, the directivity control data corresponding to the base station to be reached by the mobile communication terminal is stored in the common data storage means. Control data transmission means for transmitting to the mobile communication terminal that has transmitted the state parameter via the mobile wide area communication network,
The mobile communication terminal is
Terminal-side control data storage means for storing the directivity control data transmitted from the external device;
Terminal side directivity control for controlling the directivity of the terminal antenna according to the current position of the mobile communication terminal specified by the state specifying unit based on the directivity control data stored in the terminal side control data storage unit A narrow-area wireless communication system having means. A base station for a narrow area radio having a base station antenna, forming a limited communication area by narrowing a radiation range of a carrier wave when transmitting a radio signal to a mobile communication terminal, and a terminal antenna, A narrow-area wireless communication system that performs wireless communication with a mobile communication terminal that has entered a communication area of a station,
Furthermore, the mobile communication terminal and the base station can communicate via a mobile wide area network,
The mobile communication terminal is
State parameter transmission means for transmitting a state parameter including a current position and a movement direction of the mobile communication terminal to the base station via a wide area network for mobiles,
The base station
The directivity of the base station antenna is configured to be controllable,
A position in a connection area that is a predetermined range larger than the communication area with respect to the base station, and a direction in which the directivity of the base station antenna should be directed so that the signal strength of the carrier wave from the base station is high at the position Base station side control data storage means for storing directivity control data in association with orientation information indicating
Arrival estimation means for estimating an expected arrival position of the mobile communication terminal in the connection area based on the state parameter transmitted from the mobile communication terminal via the mobile wide area communication network;
Based on the control data stored in the base station side control data storage means, the base station side directivity control means for controlling the directivity of the base station antenna according to the expected arrival position estimated by the arrival estimation means. Narrow wireless communication system. A base station for a narrow area radio having a base station antenna, forming a limited communication area by narrowing a radiation range of a carrier wave when transmitting a radio signal to a mobile communication terminal, and a terminal antenna, A narrow-area wireless communication system that performs wireless communication with a mobile communication terminal that has entered a communication area of a station,
Furthermore, the mobile communication terminal and the base station can communicate via a mobile wide area network,
The mobile communication terminal is
The directivity of the terminal antenna is configured to be controllable,
State parameter transmission means for transmitting a state parameter including a current position and a moving direction of the mobile communication terminal to the base station via a mobile wide area communication network,
The base station
The directivity of the base station antenna is configured to be controllable,
A position in a connection area that is a predetermined range larger than the communication area with respect to the base station, and a direction in which the directivity of the base station antenna should be directed so that the signal strength of the carrier wave from the base station is high at the position The base station directivity control data associated with the azimuth information indicating the position, the position in the connection area, and the directivity of the terminal antenna so that the signal strength of the carrier wave from the base station becomes high at the position. Control data storage means for storing terminal-side directivity control data in association with direction information indicating the direction to be directed,
Arrival estimation means for estimating an expected arrival position of the mobile communication terminal in the connection area based on the state parameter transmitted from the mobile communication terminal via the mobile wide area communication network;
Base station side directivity control means for controlling the directivity of the base station antenna according to the expected arrival position estimated by the arrival estimation means based on the base station side directivity control data stored in the control data storage means ,
Control data transmission means for transmitting the terminal side directivity control data stored in the control data storage means to the mobile communication terminal that has transmitted the state parameter via the mobile wide area communication network;
Furthermore, the mobile communication terminal
Terminal-side control data storage means for storing the terminal-side directivity control data transmitted from the base station;
Based on the terminal-side directivity control data stored in the terminal-side control data storage means, the terminal-side directivity for controlling the directivity of the terminal antenna according to the current position of the mobile communication terminal specified by the state specifying means A narrow-area wireless communication system having a sex control means. In the narrow-area radio communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
At least one of the terminal-side directivity control means and the base station-side directivity control means refers to the three-dimensional map data around the base station, and the base station antenna and the terminal antenna in the connection area A narrow-area wireless communication system that executes the directivity control so as to avoid the influence of a building or the like existing between the two. The narrow-area radio communication system according to claim 4,
At least the terminal-side directivity control means executes directivity control with reference to the three-dimensional map data around the base station,
The three-dimensional map data is provided in a navigation device provided in a vehicle on which the mobile communication terminal is mounted. The narrow area radio communication system according to claim 3,
At least the base station side directivity control means executes directivity control with reference to the three-dimensional map data around the base station,
Furthermore, the base station comprises control data correction means for correcting the terminal-side directivity control data stored in the control data storage means with reference to stereoscopic map data around the base station,
The control data transmission means of the base station transmits terminal side directivity control data corrected by the control data correction means to the mobile communication terminal. The narrow-area wireless communication system according to claim 1,
Further, the external device extracts the directivity control data corresponding to the base station that the mobile communication terminal is scheduled to reach, extracted from the common data storage means, and the three-dimensional map data around the base station that is scheduled to be reached from now on. Control data correction means for correcting by reference,
The control data transmission means of the external device transmits the directivity control data corrected by the control data correction means to the mobile communication terminal. In the narrow-band radio communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
At least one of the terminal side directivity control means and the base station side directivity control means refers to detection data obtained from an object detection means for detecting an object present in the connection area, and the base A narrow-area radio communication system that executes the directivity control so as to avoid the influence of the sensing object existing between a station antenna and the terminal antenna. The narrow-area radio communication system according to claim 8,
At least the terminal-side directivity control means executes directivity control with reference to the detection data,
The said object detection means is a narrow area radio | wireless communications system with which the vehicle by which the said mobile communication terminal is mounted is provided. The narrow area radio communication system according to claim 8 or 9,
The said object detection means analyzes the image which image | photographed the said object, and detects it. In the narrow-area radio communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 10,
The state parameter transmission means of the mobile communication terminal includes the expected arrival time to the connection area of the mobile communication terminal in the state parameter transmitted to the base station,
The base station side directivity control means of the base station performs directivity control of the base station antenna before the expected arrival time obtained from the mobile communication terminal. The narrow-area radio communication system according to claim 11,
The moving speed of the mobile communication terminal is based on the traveling speed of the vehicle detected by vehicle speed detecting means provided in a vehicle on which the mobile communication terminal is mounted, and the expected arrival time is mounted on the mobile communication terminal. A narrow-area wireless communication system that is calculated by a navigation device included in the vehicle. In the narrow-band radio communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 12,
The current position of the mobile communication terminal is based on position information of the vehicle measured by a positioning device provided in a vehicle on which the mobile communication terminal is mounted. The narrow-area radio communication system according to claim 13,
The positioning device calculates a position of the vehicle based on a GPS signal from a GPS satellite. A mobile communication terminal used in the short-range wireless communication system according to claim 1,
A mobile communication terminal comprising the configuration described in relation to the mobile communication terminal in each claim. A base station used in the narrow-area wireless communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 14,
A base station having the configuration described in relation to the base station in each claim.